"My mother must have seemed a strong, compassionate figure to my father, and her family offered the sense of security and power he was looking for."
Page 48

"My father hadn't really wanted to have children. My mother told me once that he used to break her heart in that he just wasn't interested in the little things she told him about us."
Page 51

"The tragedy was that along with their happiness, and their incredible appetite for life, the forces of darkness were always there, although you would never have known it: the surface looked so good."
Page 57

"There isn't much in common between these cosmetic pictures and the old photos of the earlier Sedgwicks with their amusing, knobbly faces... they all looked like a bunch of Jerusalem artichokes."
Page 67

"Summer was the time when all of the children were home, and we rambled around and had games after...